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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Author Spotlight: Patti Larsen

Welcome to another edition of the Author Spotlight! Today we have the wonderful Patti Larsen. Patti and I met online in an author group. She has been a great resource for me and an overall awesome person to know! Today, she agreed to write a guest post about the voices in her head. All I have to say is thank goodness I'm not the only one!! Thanks Patti... take it away:

Why I Always Do What The Voices Tell Me To

I hear voices, oh yes indeedy I do. Lots and lots of voices. Some that whisper in quiet little girl sweetness, others roaring in teenaged boy demanding loudness, and everything in between.

It’s a writer’s thing, I promise—I’m not crazy, though my husband has promised me if he ever does call the men in the white coats I can have a sparkly pink straight jacket, so it’s all good.

See, he hates it when I inform people I hear voices—even worse that I do what those voices tell me. Because sometimes I forget to add the best part—they only ever tell me how to write their stories.

Well, at least so far. I’m thinking if they start asking me to do other things I’ll probably say no.

Probably.

Right, back to the voices. See, there was a time, when I was young, I discovered I wanted to write. I was only twelve years old and uncovering my life’s purpose wasn’t exactly on my mind. But it happened in a flash one day, thanks to a copy of a Nancy Drew adventure lent to me by a friend. By the time I’d finished reading, I knew.

It was the first time the voices spoke to me. And I listened. Wrote what they said. Not very well, though. There was the problem, in fact. Because I wasn’t quite ready to tell their stories, my abilities not caught up with their need to be heard, I stumbled. Listened when I was told I wasn’t good enough and should do something else.

The voices went away. Or at least fell quiet. I don’t recall when it happened, but I do remember being sad about it and not really knowing why I was sad. Just that something was missing.

I found other ways to be creative—everything from singing in a band and writing songs to doing improv theater and making my own films. When I started screenwriting, the voices whispered to me and I suddenly remembered what it felt like to hear them.

And then, fate and my niece introduced me to Harry Potter. And the voices came back.
Boy, did they! Loud and clear and full of joy. When I started to hear them again, I was so full of happiness I actually sold my business and devoted myself to them 100%. Crazy right? But they told me to trust them. And I have.

I do. Good thing, too. Since they came back, I’ve published twenty three novels for middle graders and young adults with many, many more in the future. My teen voices are lined up, in a queue, waiting their turn while they jostle each other and try to catch my attention.

I love them all. Will do my absolute best to write their stories the way they want. And from now on, no matter what happens, I’ll always, always listen.

Because, after all, they’ve never let me down.

About the Author: Patti Larsen is an award-winning middle grade and young adult author with a passion for the paranormal. Her YA thriller series, The Hunted, is available now. Book one of that series, RUN, is a recent recipient of the 2012 PEI Book Awards for Fiction. Eight books of her very popular Hayle Coven Novels, beginning with Family Magic, are also out now. Her YA steampunk series, Blood and Gold, can be found on Amazon, along with her YA paranormal novel, Best Friends Forever, and The Diamond City Trilogy. Her middle grade novel, The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House (Acorn Press), is available now. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her Get Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her very patient husband and four massive cats.

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